Charities’ fury at Starmer for raiding international aid budget to tackle migration crisis
Former ministers and charities have criticized Sir Keir Starmer for raiding the UK’s aid budget to curb illegal immigration from Bangladesh rather than using the money to tackle humanitarian crises.
The row came as it emerged that Britain was planning to transfer aid money to Bangladesh’s Ministry of Immigration to deal with fraudulent agents selling fake visas.
The plan will put further pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ already strained aid budget, which she has cut to just 0.3 per cent of GDP despite Labor promising to bring it back to 0.7 per cent.
Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper explained Independent: “By working with Bangladesh to hold fraudulent visa agents to account, we are strengthening the UK’s immigration system to ensure compliance and enforcement and protect people from exploitation.
“These reforms are already delivering results on the ground, giving victims a way to get their money back and undermining the business models of people selling false promises of work opportunities in the UK.”
But questions are being asked as to why the UK government is using aid funding to solve a problem that many believe should come out of the Home Office budget.
Former cabinet minister David Mundell, who now sits on the international development committee, said: “The aid budget, especially as it is now reduced, should be used to support the most vulnerable people around the world.
“The majority of the budget is already being used to pay for hotels for asylum seekers in the UK and this would be just another example of development funds being used to meet the Home Office responsibilities.”
Around £2.8bn is expected to be spent on accommodation for refugees this financial year, with the bulk of this coming from the UK aid budget.
It comes after former Labor Cabinet minister Chris Smith warned that the fight against AIDS could be set back four decades because of aid cuts in the UK and US.
The Bangladeshi diaspora in the UK is believed to number around 700,000, down from 450,000 in 2011. Last year, a record 7,225 Bangladeshi citizens applied for asylum in the UK, a 42 per cent increase on 2023.
More than 12,000 Bangladeshis have been granted study visas since June 2025; This underlines the strong demand for education in the UK. A study by the International Organization for Migration found that 45 percent of migrant workers from Bangladesh depend on unofficial channels or sub-agents for information and assistance.
However, charities have also strongly condemned the move to abandon vulnerable people around the world.
Flora Alexander, UK executive director of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), said: “With the aid budget at its lowest level in decades, every pound must go where it saves lives and addresses the root causes of the crisis. This means prioritizing fragile and conflict-affected states where needs are greatest and where smart investments can help reduce the pressures forcing people to flee their homes.”
A spokesperson for ActionAid UK said: “Aid should be used to meet growing humanitarian needs in conflict zones, tackle the climate crisis and support the fight for gender equality – not be arbitrarily diverted to achieve dubious political points.
“At a time when the aid budget has been recklessly slashed to its lowest level in decades, it is even more vital that the remaining funding goes where it is urgently needed: women’s rights organizations working on the front lines of crises.”
Meanwhile, experts have called for any funding to combat the problem to come from the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ budgets rather than the limited foreign aid budget.
Gideon Rabinowitz, director of policy and advocacy at international development coalition Bond, said: “The UK government must stop using UK aid to cover the Home Office’s costs in its core work of supporting asylum seekers and ensure every penny of UK aid is taken into account to reduce poverty and improve the lives of the world’s most marginalized communities.”
Helen Dempster, co-director of the migration and displacement program at the Center for Global Development, added: “It is very difficult to argue that this is a better use of the limited aid budget than, for example, providing life-saving humanitarian aid or expanding vaccine access. Instead, these activities could be funded through the wider Home Office budget, perhaps drawing on revenue from increased visa fees.”
But former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell, who persuaded David Cameron to stick to the previous 0.7 per cent of GDP on aid, warned it was “difficult” to criticize the move because it falls within the scope of aid spending.
He warned: “We in the development community have lost public support and need to establish legitimacy and generate renewed support.”
The investment is an extension of the existing program to the Sylhet region, enabling closer scrutiny of visa agents in the region, giving victims the ability to report fraud and recover losses, and reducing pressure on the UK immigration system by detecting visa fraud at its source.
This article was produced as part of The Independent. Rethinking Global Aid project
